Small to medium-sized game development companies can access more talent, knowledge, and resources at a lower cost by outsourcing game development. In 2022, customer spending on mobile games is expected to reach a staggering $167 billion, and outsourcing the creation of mobile games is growing in popularity. Employing an outsourced service provider, however, also comes with its own share of difficulties, such as coordinating with various time zones, managing a remote team, and ensuring the standard of the finished product.

If you decide to develop any project internally, outsourcing game development is a way to gain access to more experienced individuals with the modern technology that may be missing. As a result, you can look into more possibilities while also obtaining the finest price-performance ratio.

To ensure the success of your upcoming project, let’s talk about some important steps to consider when outsourcing game development.

Define Design Target and Requirements

We must have a clear understanding of our plans and the goals the game has before looking for any outsourcing game development teams. Determining the usefulness, general design elements, and particular technical specifications is part of this process. Finding the ideal outsourced team and assessing project development will be made easier with a clearly defined product scope.

Searching for Potential Outsourcing Partners

You can start searching for prospective outsourcing partners once you have a clear understanding of the desired project goals and requirements. Find a game development company that has experience, expertise in the genre of games you want to create, and a proven track record of delivering high-quality work on time and on budget.

Review sites like Clutch, which has over 1800 evaluations of B2B service providers/outsourcers, are worth looking into. Another comparable service is Good Companies, which has a wider selection of outsourcing service reviews from which you can choose with greater certainty.

When dealing with remote teams, communication and project management expertise are very helpful. Check out the team’s collection and client testimonials.

See More: Leverage Game Development Outsourcing Services with Cubix

Steps to choose a game development outsourcing partner:

To investigate prospective game development outsourcing partners, you can take a number of actions. Determine the specific knowledge and experience needed for the job first. This aids in reducing the number of prospective partners to those with the necessary training and credentials. Therefore, if you want an online puzzle game to be created, look for applicants who have prior experience creating puzzle games, etc.

Examine websites, portfolios, and social media profiles of businesses to conduct internet research on them. You can get a sense of their expertise and the kinds of tasks they have previously worked on from this. Check out ratings and reviews on reliable consumer review websites such as Clutch, Good Firms, or other.

Once you’ve narrowed down your list of preferred teams, get in touch with potential employers and request recommendations and case studies. After that, get in touch with the referral and find out their opinion of the business.

Before signing, thoroughly review all contracts and service level agreements (SLAs). Make sure the conditions are transparent and equitable for both parties and that the business is prepared to offer continuing assistance and upkeep. After-sales maintenance is typically provided by full-cycle development firms, and partially outsourced projects have different requirements for any such service.

Not to mention, any company you are thinking about hiring needs to be financially stable and have a track record of completing excellent work on time.

Last but not least, take into account the time zones and locations of prospective partners to ensure minimal time differences and cultural barriers. Because the project will eventually fail no matter how talented a team you hire if you can’t easily and completely communicate your idea to them.

Effective communication

Another crucial component for outsourcing any project effectively is effective communication. With your outsourcing partners, establish clear lines of contact, schedule frequent check-ins, and monitor project progress. You must also be able to react swiftly to issues or questions in order to keep development moving.

Read More: 13 Benefits of Game Development Outsourcing

Create a clear project management plan

To keep the development process on schedule, a clear project management plan is necessary. This should include thorough milestones, schedules for deploying assets and code, and strategies for testing and quality control. Additionally, make sure that both you and your outsourcing partner understand your project management plan and that everyone is aware of their respective duties and responsibilities.

Choose The Correct Outsourcing Structure

With a variety of development models available, you can outsource game creation and use the one that works best for you.

Full-cycle outsourcing entails giving your project’s specifications and concepts to a specialised business that can manage every stage of game creation, from initial concept to post-release game updates.

Certain game components, particularly those that an internal team cannot produce, are intended for outsourcing. Only certain components of the game (such as the code and graphics) can be given resources, and the finished product is only visible after assembly. It’s a clever method to make use of a seasoned team’s knowledge.

Cooperation is a hybrid of internal and external work. When using a hybrid development approach, a team collaborates with an outside developer to create a game.

In the final scenario, all of the product’s processing and finishing must be done internally while using personnel with the necessary level of development expertise.

Each of these models has benefits and drawbacks, and the model you select will rely on the requirements of your project or idea. For smaller projects with a clear scope, a fixed-price model works best; for bigger, more complex projects, a dedicated development team model works best.

Safeguard Your Property

It’s crucial to protect intellectual property when outsourcing game creation. Your game’s code, graphics, and other assets, as well as all intellectual property rights associated with its branding, must be explicitly defined with the outsourcing firm.

Read More: How to Outsource Mobile App Development in 2023

Test Your Game Thoroughly

Finally, it’s crucial to fully test your project game before making it public. This involves playtesting to determine whether the game is entertaining and engaging as well as functional testing to make sure it functions as expected. Include a feedback system so that the game can be altered in response to player preferences.

Let’s say you want to hire a reputable business to develop your mobile game. In that situation, we advise consulting reviews for your specific game genre.